Terminology & Style

On the one hand, we manage our clients’ preferred translators, copywriters, linguists, graphic designers and web developers, and on the other, we manage the terminology and style specific to their area of activity and their business, or even the particular department of their company. We have developed “Centralised Terminology and Style Management” tools and procedures for each client, which means that we can offer an even faster, more accurate and more competitive service.

These include creating and managing :

Glossaries

Translation memories (TM)

Style guides

Query reports

To reduce terminological inconsistency, queries, doubts and errors as much as possible, but also to make sure we understand our clients, their products and services and their expectations when it comes to translating their content, we work closely with them to produce customised terminological glossaries and style guides to be used alongside Translation Memories and query reports.

Different languages follow different rules, some stricter than others, leaving varying levels of scope for personalising the form and style of writing. A style guide contains information about this scope specific to each client.

eliminating risks of mistakes during and after the writing and translation phases,

reducing translators’ doubts and questions,

saving time during the translation phase,

saving time during the proofreading phase,

improved consistency in the translated segments and

savings in terms of time and money when translating repetitive, non-editorial texts.

The limits of translation memories

Translation memories are incredibly efficient when it comes to translating repetitive text in which the editorial style and structure are not particularly important. However, for more editorial, journalistic and marketing texts, where the style and structure of the phrases and paragraphs are vital, and often vary considerably from one language to another, translation memories should not be used, as they are likely to result in a literal translation. This means that the source and target text are exactly the same, with the same structure and the same number of phrases and segments, in other words, it is more likely to be a word for word translation. More editorial, journalistic and marketing texts are always written very differently, depending on the target language.

However, use of this tools should not be abused, as they can cause problems, butchering any style and personalisation for other types of text, such as brochures, marketing catalogues, press releases, websites, video scripts etc.